The Guardian newspaper reports that the UK Treasury is considering sending vouchers to everyone to spend on a range of goods. This would not be a Basic Income, but it shares some of its characteristics and would be an interesting experiment to watch.
Radical plans to give all adults £500 and children £250 in vouchers to spend in sectors of the economy worst hit by the Covid-19 crisis are being considered by the Treasury.
The proposals, drawn up by the Resolution Foundation thinktank, which has had recent talks with the Treasury about its ideas, are aimed at kickstarting economic recovery by triggering a highly targeted surge in spending. Under the plans the vouchers could only be spent in certain sectors, such as hospitality and “face to face” retail, as opposed to online.
What is particularly interesting about the idea is that it would require the UK Government to establish the kind of database that would be required for the payment for a Basic Income.
Rachel Sandler has written an article for the Forbes website about an increasing number of US cities planning to establish Basic Income pilot projects.
The mayors of Los Angeles; Oakland, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Tacoma, Washington, Newark, New Jersey; Saint Paul, Minnesota; Jackson, Mississippi; Compton, California; Shreveport, Louisiana and Stockton, California, have joined Mayors For A Guaranteed Income, a coalition advocating for UBI policies, or the idea of giving out recurring cash payments to all individuals without any strings attached.
Readers of the article might wish to be aware that some of the terminology used in the article is somewhat indeterminate in its meaning. According to BIEN’s definition, a Basic Income is ‘a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement’. The article sometimes uses the term ‘guaranteed income’, which can mean either a Basic Income or a means-tested benefit: and it is not always clear which is meant. Readers might also wish to be aware that the experiments in Canada and the Netherlands are testing income-tested benefits, and so are not Basic Income pilot projects according to BIEN’s definition of Basic Income.
Alongside securing a regular supply of food, therefore, unless our governments plan to supplant the market economy entirely and move towards a system of resource-allocation that is less anarchic, one of their primary tasks must be to ensure that people have enough money in their pockets to buy it. This is where introducing a basic income becomes an option.
We advocate that an emergency basic income be provided through the direct cash transfer mechanism that Government of India has implemented. This will not only arrest potential social unrest but also ensure that there is continued aggregate demand to sustain our economy.
(Further articles about the needs of migrant workers in India can be found here and here)
For society to have the required resilience to survive this crisis and to recover from it, everybody must have the capacity to try to respond responsibly. If some groups are left vulnerable and deprived, all groups will be vulnerable and deprived. A basic income would give meaning to the claim that ‘we are all in this together’.
One of the contenders for the leadership of the UK’s Liberal Democratic Party has edited a a book of policy ideas for the party: Build Back Better. Among those policies is a Basic Income:
Nothing could be more uncertain than what will happen as we emerge from coronavirus. People have lost their jobs or are uncertain if there’ll be jobs to go back to. There has been an exponential increase in food bank usage. A huge number of people are applying for Universal Credit – many for the first time – and are left waiting five weeks for their first payment, pushing them nearer and nearer the brink. This comes on top of the likelihood of a deep recession, with all the ensuing impact on our wellbeing and our hope for the future.
UBI is not a silver bullet; we would, for example, need a separate, properly funded system to ensure that everyone has a safe and secure home. What UBI does is turn on its head our idea of the value each of us hold. It starts us on a clear path to a more equal society. It’s a tipping point at which we can reshape our society and our economy for the better.
When I first heard about UBI, I was far from convinced. But I watched, I worried, I read and I changed my mind. (Cllr Rhys Taylor, pages 29-30
